


We Are the Kids

by Marimimi14



Series: Andrew and Neil Family's Adventures [18]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron and Katelyn have something to tell the others, Adopted Children, Children, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Dinners, Family Feels, Kevin didn't tell anyone about his trade, Kid Fic, M/M, Nicky is just happy to see his family, Professional Exy (All For The Game), Professional Exy Player Andrew Minyard, Professional Exy Player Neil Josten, kevin is playing with Andrew and Neil again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23826259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marimimi14/pseuds/Marimimi14
Summary: It's time for the family dinner. Juniper apparently convinced Kevin to come. Also, Aaron and Katelyn have an announcement to make. Nicky makes an assumption about what it is (he's totally wrong by the way).
Relationships: Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose
Series: Andrew and Neil Family's Adventures [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654528
Comments: 10
Kudos: 141





	We Are the Kids

Saturday arrived faster than anyone expected. Nicky and Erik landed on Friday night and Andrew had almost thrown his phone at the wall twice since that time. Maybe if Nicky didn’t insist on texting him everything his mind came up with Andrew would have an easier time enduring his cousin. He was also still not convinced that Kevin would come, even if Juniper had assured him he would when she gave him his phone back after her conversation with the striker.

When it was almost time to leave, they were far from ready. Juniper had almost thrown a tantrum when the shirt she wanted wasn’t clean yet and she had been pouting since then. Taking most time than usual to get ready. Even Everest was grumpy. He wanted to play video games with his friends and wasn’t thrilled with a family dinner. Neil was dealing with him, so it was on Andrew to try and calm Juniper down. He leaned on her door frame and looked at her and she looked in her drawers for another shirt. Andrew was pretty sure she wasn’t looking at anything and she was simply throwing shirts around.

“Juniper.” He said trying to get her attention.

She didn’t look up at him and continued what she had been doing. There were now more shirts on the ground than in her drawers.

“Look Jun, I know you’re upset that you can’t wear your favourite shirt, but we’ll be late if we don’t leave soon.” He tried again.

Juniper still didn’t look up at him, but she at least slowed her movements. For some reason, she really wanted to wear her orange t-shirt with little foxes on it. Nicky had been the one to buy it for her. She wasn’t this fussy with her clothes usually. Something else must be bothering her.

“What’s going on Jun?” Andrew asked her. He entered her room and stopped next to her.

She huffed and finally looked up at him. Brown eyes looking at him with an emotion Andrew would’ve had difficulties naming. Maybe even Juniper wasn’t able to name it, so she turned it to her t-shirt.

“I don’t know.” She muttered.  
“Do you want to talk about it?” Andrew asked her.

Juniper paused, thinking about his question. After a moment she nodded hesitantly.

“It’s just…” She started and stopped, looking for the right words. “I seem… I don’t know…” She twisted her fingers.  
“It’s ok Juniper. One word at a time.” Andrew encouraged her.  
Juniper took a deep breath before finally saying what was on her mind. “I seem to be the only one looking forward to the family dinner.”

Andrew paused. He had tried his hardest to not show his annoyance to the kids. He didn’t want them to think he hated his family. Which wasn’t the case anyway. He just wasn’t a social person to begin with. Also, even if their relationship was better, he still felt a bit of awkwardness between him and Aaron. So, in the end, he was more nervous about tonight and it came out as annoyance. Neil knew how he felt, but Neil had more experience with the way Andrew worked. Juniper and Everest hadn’t the same experience.

“It’s not true Jun.” Andrew said after a moment. “I’m just a little nervous that’s all. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them.” Andrew explained to her.  
“But dad and Uncle Aaron don’t get along.” Juniper tried to argue.  
“They had some divergence in opinions in the past. They’re still working on it.” Andrew said, once again without giving her too many details.

She didn’t need to know that it took Aaron a long time to accept their relationship. She definitely didn’t need to know what Aaron had said about Neil and how they fought a lot back in college. She liked Aaron and Andrew wasn’t about to take that away from her. His brother had changed a lot after all.

“And Everest doesn’t even want to come.” She whined this time crossing her arms in front of her chest with a pout.  
Andrew scoffed at that. “Your brother is 15.” He said. “He’s going through puberty. He thinks parents aren’t that cool and his friends are better. It’s nothing personal.”  
Juniper looked at Andrew with wide eyes. “How could he think that!” She exclaimed. “You and dad are cool!”  
Andrew gave her a small smile and ruffled her hair. “Thanks, Jun. Do you feel better now?”

She nodded and went back to her drawers. She finally picked her small jersey with Neil’s number on it. Andrew got out of her room to let her change. He found Neil in the living room.

“Everything alright?” The redhead asked him.  
“Yes. She finally put your jersey on. What about Everest?”  
“He’s getting changed too. I finally got through to him about his attitude.” Neil said with a shrug.

A few minutes later, Everest and Juniper joined them in the living room. Andrew's lips smiled against his will when he saw that Everest had put on his jersey with Andrew’s number on it. Everest went up to his sister and hugged her.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted this week.” He told her.

Juniper accepted his apology and hugged him back. When they separated she shot Andrew a smile. Finally, they got in the car and left for the restaurant.

***

Juniper went back to being her cheerful self during the drive to the restaurant. Everest had toned down his attitude and even seemed a little excited. They were, evidently, the last one to arrive. If Andrew had been surprised to see Kevin sitting next to Katelyn, he didn’t let it show. Neil apologized for being late and sat next to Kevin. Everest sat next to Erik and in front of Katelyn, Juniper sat in front of Kevin and Andrew took the last seat next to Juniper and in front of Neil.

“It’s ok guys. You didn’t miss much.” Nicky said with a smile.  
“Except for them whining about the fact that I didn’t tell anyone about my trade.” Kevin said with a roll of his eyes.  
“I’m with them on that. A little warning would’ve been nice.” Neil said.  
Kevin rolled his eyes again. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”  
“Well, if I had known sooner, I would’ve made you a card to congratulate you, Uncle Kevin.” Juniper said with a smile.

Kevin almost choked on his water at that. He coughed and Neil had to pat him on his back.

“Hum… Thanks, Juniper, but it’s really not necessary.” He finally said when his breathing was back to normal. His face was still pretty red.  
“We just don’t get why you didn’t tell anyone.” Aaron said.

Kevin glared at him but didn’t reply anything. The conversation wasn’t picked up again and Kevin had no choice but give them an explanation.

“It’s not like I kept it a total secret. I told my dad.” Kevin huffed.  
“Oh yeah. Luckily coach is such a gossip machine he told everyone.” Andrew said with a roll of his eyes.  
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you.” Kevin told him. “Leave that to Neil.”

The interaction made Juniper laugh and Everest snort. Then Everest schooled his features because he was a cool high schooler and adults weren’t supposed to be funny. Kevin was free from anymore question when their waiter came to the table and asked them if they had decided. Everyone ordered and the matter of Kevin seemed to be forgotten for now. Nicky and Aaron asked the kids about school and their friends. Which ended up with Juniper teasing her brother about Gabby and a beet red Everest trying to defend himself.

“Juniper. Don’t tease your brother like that.” Neil intervened.

Juniper poked Everest on his arm with a laugh but she eventually left him alone. She turned to Aaron and Katelyn to tell them all about her last school project. Kevin started a discussion with Neil about exy which caught Everest's attention and the teenager listened to them.

“I want to come to the game on Friday.” Everest said.  
“No problem Everest. You know you can always come.” Neil said.  
“Juniper do you want to come?” Andrew asked her.

If she said no it would be a good time to ask Aaron and Katelyn to come over and babysit her. Juniper looked back at her father and thought about his question for a moment.

“I want to come. I want to see Uncle Kevin play.” She said with a smile.

Andrew and Neil nodded. Juniper wasn’t the biggest fan of exy but she liked watching people she knew were playing. Apparently, Kevin was enough of a novelty to catch her interest.

“We could go too.” Katelyn said. “It’s been a while since we saw a game at the stadium.”

Aaron pretended like he had to think about it, but they all knew he would say yes. For one, he couldn’t say no to Katelyn most of the time and he was still a fan of the sport. He played it for five years after all. Nicky whined that their flight was on Thursday and he and Erik couldn’t come to the game. Erik had to promise him that next time they’ll time their vacation so they could see a game to satisfy Nicky. Once they were done with their food, the waiter came back and asked them if they wanted desserts. Neil and Kevin didn’t order any, but the rest of the table said yes. Kevin looked at Andrew like he wanted to say something about his choice. Andrew raised an eyebrow in his direction as he took a spoonful of his ice cream. Kevin turned to Neil as if the redhead will back him up. Neil simply shook his head with a smile. Kevin should know better by now. Neil couldn’t make Andrew do something he didn’t want to do.

Once the dessert plates and bowls empty, most of the adult ordered coffee. Andrew was breathing easier now than at the beginning of the evening. It had gone better than he expected and now it was almost over. Then Aaron cleared his throat and Andrew turned sharply in the direction of his brother.

“We have something to tell you.” He said when he had the attention of all at the table.

Katelyn took his hand. Andrew’s brows frowned at the sight. Why could make Aaron that nervous?

“Are you getting a divorce?” Nicky gasped loudly.

Nicky's intervention, as stupid as it was, at least shook Aaron’s stress away.

“What? No! Shut up, Nicky!” Aaron said glaring at his cousin.  
“Ok, ok. I’m sorry. It’s just you looked very serious.” Nicky said.  
“We’re not getting a divorce, you moron. Katelyn is pregnant!” Aaron exclaimed.

The table fell silent at that. The first one to say something was Katelyn.

“Good job honey.” She said with a smirk.  
“Yeah, I could’ve announced that better.” Aaron admitted.  
“It would’ve been out of character for you if it went smoothly.” Neil said clearly amused with Aaron’s embarrassment.  
“Shut up Josten.” Aaron mumbled without any heat.

Nicky was over the moon. He congratulated them both and tried to hug Aaron who was sitting the closest to him. Aaron indulged him for a few seconds before getting out of his hold.

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks.” Aaron told him.

Andrew noticed that under the layer of annoyance his brother was pleased with Nicky’s reaction.

“Does that mean we’ll have a cousin?” Juniper asked.  
“Yes, Jun. That’s what it means.” Everest confirmed.  
“We’ll have a real cousin.” She said as if she couldn’t believe it.  
“So, Reece is a fake cousin then?” Neil asked her with a teasing smile.

Reece was Dan and Matt’s son. He was born in January and Juniper loved him a lot. When Matt and Dan visited, she always had the little boy in her arms for the longest.

“You know what I mean.” She said trying to defend what she meant.  
Andrew ruffled her hair. “Yeah, we know.” He told his daughter. “Congrats.” He finally said to Aaron and Katelyn.

Aaron tried to hide his surprise, but Andrew saw the way his eyes widen. Aaron hadn’t expected anything from his brother. Andrew rolled his eyes, but he said nothing. Instead, he turned to Neil who was already grinning at him. Apparently, their family was expanding once again. Andrew waited for the dread to set in his bones, but it never came. He realized his congratulation had been sincere. He was really happy for his brother, yeah happy was the right word. He was happy for his family. If someone had told him he would feel like that when he was fresh out of his meds, he would’ve punched them probably. But those days were far from him and he had made enough progress in his recovery to admit, that yeah, he was satisfied.

**Author's Note:**

> The family dinner! What did you guys think? Sorry if this fic took some time to be published but I had to finish school. Having online courses when you're not used to it is very weird. But now my semester is all done! Thank you all for reading!


End file.
